Friday, July 27, 2007

Inspiration abounds in ChinaTown...

It was a short walk to the heart of China Town early this morning. I arrived a little early as most of the stores weren't opening until 10am. It was fun to see the area come alive with crowds of people and oodles of culture surrounding me. The Chinese people of the area were swarming the produce stands and markets to get the best of the day's selection of goods. All I could do was watch as the signs were written for them and not for me.

Along with all the souvenier shops full of t-shirts, I did stumble across a store called " SF Star incorporated". I would describe it as somewhat of a souvenier, department...drugstore combo type of store. It's filled with things I have never seen before...or at least you wont find them anywhere near my house like.....chinese analgesics (really cool packaging by the way...the chinese really go all out on decorative packaging - really catches your eyeball)....dried ginseng....dried squid....dried octopus.....dried goldfish (okay that's what they looked like to me) ...dried everything........about this time Im thinking...dried squid and octopus are just not too appetizing right now at 9am in the morning........but what I did find way cool was their asian jewelry - big chunky focal pieces. I've mentioned before that Im on this...altered-y, asian, chunky sort of thing....so these pendants fit right in with that current trend of mine. Instantly I saw potential. (I'll be using these in the Making Beads book Im currently working on - a little teaser there...) So, now it's just a matter of choosing which piece to buy....oh to heck with that...why not buy all three?? Especially since the price was right...only $6.00 each! SOLD!

Im outta there and on to the next shop! Semi-precious bead shops are all over Grant Street in China town and provide oodles of inspiration. Many have good deals but you do need to shop around and bargain a little with the shops owner. Jade was everywhere....and I found it in colors ranging from yellow to very pale green and everything in between. This was quite intriguing to me since Ive been tweeking my jade recipe to make it as authentic looking as possible. I saw jade that was carved and sometimes polished leaving a brown color in the crevases, while others left a pale tan. Other versions had inclusions and were multi colored, particularly when made into bowls and some jade was simple reflecting only one color. Needless to say, I snapped lots of pictures of jade, coral and one of the new favorites I found - "graphic jasper". This stunning stone will be one of my next passions to replicate. The colors are rich and range from purple'y browns (is that even a color) to creams, reddish browns....

The trend in all the jewelry shops I visited seemed to be "chunky" and full of color. They were either very ornate with lots of beads and multiple strands or they were more simple designs strung on a cable wrapped in fiber with a small macrame embellishment which highlighted the big focal jade or bone pendants. I sketched the cord design hoping to maybe re-create it and then I came across these necklaces in blank form with string hanging to attach the pendant of your choice. I was getting excited , because this to me was a great find - something unique and unusual that I hadn't seen before....I wanted to jump in and buy them in all colors..but I resisted! Being the bargain shopper that I am, I decided to force myself to wait. Glad I did! The very next shop had them at half the price...so I bought a couple and found another necklace blank that was knotted and macrame'd with beads, bought one of those too.

For lunch, I really wanted to sample authentic chinese cuisine. I have to admit that as I browsed some of the menu's, I was a bit aprehensive to dothis. I do eat alot of wild game, so I am up for a new experience, but..... roasted pigeon??????......i dunno ...just couldnt do it. I walked in....and then out.....of several restaurants. Partly because I simply couldnt read the menu....and partly because I was the only one in there. You figure if a restaurant is good, there would be other customers. I settled on a nice restaurant - with people and a menu I could understand, and tried my hand at dim sum. Pork and peanut dim sum to be exact. Quite tasty. I added shrimp fried rice as a main dish (just because I wanted a little something else). I can say I was quite pleased with my chinese authentic cuisine experience....

I found a chinese flea market which reminded me of a dollar store on steroids, but I did manage to buy my husband a Sake set, to go along with the Sushi set I bought for him a couple years ago in Boston. I found the girls bracelets tied with flower like shells with a very asian influence. And postcards....cant forget the postcards. I buy Mariah postcards from everywhere I go. She has a gagillion of them. I used to buy everyone t-shirts and souveniers but that gets way expensive...so now I make them settle for post cards, much more pocketbook friendly...

I also stumbled on a big event - (wish I could read chinese). It must have been a special event because the women were wearing dresses and corsages, the men were in suits and there were kids in dragon costumes dancing around in the middle of the street. They paraded around the city block I was shopping on and set off several fireworks....have no idea what it was about...but it was a nice cultural experience.....

Im exhausted now, all this inspiration is making me worn out (and excited to get home to work all at the same time) ....it's about time for Dana's seminars to be over...so I think I'll take a quick nap and rest up before dinner. We'll be moving to the Wharf tomorrow night after our fishing excursion. Hope they have internet so I can blog - Im really gettin into this....

Wish I knew how to say good night in chinese....................pretend I do....